The Portland daily press., 1887-08-31
CARLOADS OF MONEY
A Procession Twentythree Miles
Long-Startling Figures About Uncle
Sans Cash.

New York Mail and Express.]
Few persons, perhaps, who read the fire.
quently published reports of the fiscal oper-
ations Of the government give any consider
alton to the Yastness and significance of these
operations. We read of the hundreds of mil
lions of gold and silver in the Treasury at
Washington, but how few persons have any
intelligent idea of what is embraced in the
nine figures required to describe the liabi-
titles and assets of the government. 1t is on
ly when the auriferous contents of the
Treasury vaults are weighed and measured
and placed by the side of articles and COM
modities that are daily handled by the
masses that All intelligent comprehension
can be obtained by the people of the finan-
cial strength of the Treasury and the great
extent of the governments fiscal operations.
By reference to the latest published state
ment of Treasury assets and liabilities it is
learned that among the assets was 1921, 096,-
AT in gold and nearly $3.50, 000, 900 in silver,
including 100000 of trade dollars and frac-
tional COINS Taking up this 1921, 100000 of
gold and placingit on scales | find that the
gold held by the Treasury weighed 519 tons,
and If packed into ordinary carts, one ton to
each cart, it would make procession two
the movement of each horse and cart. The
weighing of the silver produces much more
interesting results. Running this over the
scales find its weight to be 1896 tons.
Measuring it in carts, as in the case of the
gold, the silver now held by the Treasury
would require the services of 1886 horses
and carts to transport it and would make a
procession over twenty-one miles in length.
The surplus about which so much is said in
the daily newspapers amounts to nearly $47,-
n oi Tnlxr
Counted as gold this surplus would weigh
eighty-six and one-half tons. Counted as
silver it would weigh 1885 tons. Each mil
lion OF gold adds $685. pounds to the surplus,
and each million Of silver adds $3.50 pounds.
Applying cubic measurement to the Treas
nry gold and silver piling the two metals on
pennsylvania avenue, as c0rdwo0d is piled
before deliverv tha-~,ssrfiAeoass ttlsifsc.,ld
silver $40 cords. and both would extend nom
the Treasury Department to Four-and-a-hal M
street. or from the Treasury to the Pension
Once In straight line, and forming solid
wall eight feet high and four feet broad
Extending these calculations and COMPARE
sons to the nterest-bearing debt, equally in
teIestlng results are obtained. The public
debt reached the highest point in August.
lS65-just twenty-five years ago-when ii
was So, 1881 ,530.295. The general reader " iii
better appreciate the vastness of this sum
when informed that it represents 70156 tons
Oh silver, which would make procession OF
Va, to point twelve miles north of Phila.
delphia, the distance it would thus cover be-
ing 266 miles.
The interest-bearing debt is now mot in
Guiding the Pacific railroad bonds 81, OOl,-
976,s50, showing that the sum paid has been
$l,379, 553, 445, or more than one-half Of the
total amount, and representing 1861 tons of
silver dollars, which would extend 154 miles
packed in carts containing one ton each.
Reducing these figures to basis where
they may be intclligently comprehended, and
that the rapidity with which the government
has. reduced its bonded debt may be fully
realized by the general reader, find that
the reduction has been at the average rate of
So, 706975 each year, So. %, 5s1 each month,
$174,1e6 each day, S7.258 each hour and
$l20.7 for every minute of the entire TWEEN
ty-twO years.
Pursuing the calculation to the smallest
Invisible space of time, the bonded debt of
the United States has been decreased at the
rate OF $2.07 for every second, or for every
swing OF the pendulum, for the entire period
from August 81, 1866, to July 81, 1887.
This Is an exhibition of recuperation and
material progress that is without parallel in
the worlds history.